The Rap Furor

June 15, 1990

In the midst of a flock of First Amendment issues - flag-burning, high school prayer groups and exhibitions of homoerotic art - now comes an embarrassing and unlikely defender of the right of free speech, the rap group The 2 Live Crew.

The group's album "As Nasty as They Wanna Be" was declared obscene by a federal judge in Florida last week. Despite his ruling, the group subsequently performed songs from the album and three of its members were later arrested. A record store owner in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was arrested for selling the album. And police in San Antonio, Texas, told store owners this week if they sold the album they would risk violating the state's obscenity laws. The group's attorney, Bruce Rogow, has declared The 2 Live Crew will defend its free-speech rights all the way to the Supreme Court.

Free speech aside, there are other pertinent issues in this case.

Rogow has claimed that minors are not buying the album, that it is intended for adults only. But the attendance at rap concerts and the letter writers to rap music magazines indicate something else. People requesting pen pals ranged from age 9 to 26 in the latest issue of one such magazine.

The only mention of The 2 Live Crew in the June issue of a rap magazine was a letter from a Detroit female who wrote, "You don't have to make records with off-color lyrics to be successful, and it's about time The 2 Live Crew realized this." Although there was no age given, the writer, who is right on target, will probably reach and be read by more rap fans than will most newspaper editorials on free speech rights.

People who listen to and buy rap - or heavy metal - albums may be the best suited to demand a change in the messages the musicians convey.

In news reports and on ABC's "Nightline," Rogow has claimed the album has artistic merit, that people buy the album not for the explicit lyrics but for the dance beat. Artistic merit is one of the standards used to judge if a work is obscene. But artistic merit and value, like obscenity, are subjective terms.

Subjectively, most of the lyrics on the album "As Nasty as They Wanna Be" have scant redeeming merit. There are messages, mostly negative and never subtle, in the album: Women are berated, profanity is glorified and sex is reduced to a common street thing. In addition, the group's "message" perpetuates stereotypes about blacks.

The group's leader, Luther Campbell, a former gang member turned rap millionaire, says the campaign against his group and its album is racist because there are no efforts to ban white groups who write and perform the same types of songs. Campbell, taking another perspective, said, "We wanted to be like Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. We wanted to be the comedians of rap."

"Nasty," which sold 1.7 million copies before the Florida obscenity ruling, is hard to find on the Peninsula. Unfortunately, the controversy - even this editorial - only fuels the phenomenal sales.